Conference on Genetic Genealogy

Today I’m flying to Houston to attend the Family Tree DNA 5th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy for Project Administrators.

I’m the administrator to the Danko DNA Project and the Niedzialkowski DNA Project at Family Tree DNA . These projects are small right now and I hope to learn some techniques to help convince more people to participate.

The conference promises to be an exciting combination of scientific presentations and practical discussions on the use of DNA in genealogy.

The program begins tonight with a reception hosted by Family Tree DNA. The talks begin Saturday morning and continue through Sunday afternoon.

Saturday’s program begins with introductions by Max Blankfeld, Vice-President of Marketing and Operations and Family Tree DNA, followed by a presentation on Family Tree DNA in 2008 by Bennett Greenspan, the President and CEO of Family Tree DNA.

Also on Saturday morning, Spencer Wells, National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence and director of the Genographic Project, will discuss Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project.

Other presentations during the weekend will discuss Privacy & Ethics of DNA Testing, Advances in mtDNA, Advances in TMRCA (time to most recent common ancestor), the Current State of Y STR (short tandem repeat) Nomenclature 2009, and Updates to the Y-Chromosome Tree, among others.

This will be an exciting conference for me, especially given my scientific background and my compassion for genealogy.

And, if there’s anyone out there with the Niedzialkowski or Danko surnames who is interested in having their DNA analyzed for genealogical purposes, let me know. I can arrange an incredible deal on DNA testing through the Danko DNA Project and Niedzialkowski DNA Project!

Copyright © 2009 by Stephen J. Danko